Posts tagged "NEC PC-9801/9821 series"
High-end, Intel x86-based computer series built by NEC for the Japanese market.
![thumbnail for "Mouse in the Artdink House (Travelling to Tokio, Part 3)" thumbnail for "Mouse in the Artdink House (Travelling to Tokio, Part 3)"](/thumbnails/elecom-ellipstone-pc98-mouse.jpg)
Mouse in the Artdink House (Travelling to Tokio, Part 3)
With the NEC PC-9801RA2, I’ve fought bad power supplies, battery corrosion, case rust, weird NEC design decisions, and flaky floppy drives. The only thing that’s keeping me from enjoying my quirky Japanese space-simulation game, Artdink’s Tokio, is the lack of a mouse. How can “just go buy a mouse” turn into an entire article? You’re about to find out.
![thumbnail for "The Floppy Flops (Travelling to Tokio, Part 2)" thumbnail for "The Floppy Flops (Travelling to Tokio, Part 2)"](/thumbnails/pc9801ra2-fdd-cleaning-disk.jpg)
The Floppy Flops (Travelling to Tokio, Part 2)
In the previous part of my adventure with the 386-based NEC PC-9801RA2, we covered the existence of Artdink’s game Tokio, talked briefly about clone PC-98s, bought two computers, and built a replacement power supply PCB for one of them. That was a lot of work! So now we finally get to play the game, right? Right?!
![thumbnail for "Amped Up For Artdink (Travelling to Tokio, Part 1)" thumbnail for "Amped Up For Artdink (Travelling to Tokio, Part 1)"](/thumbnails/tokio-box-disks.jpg)
Amped Up For Artdink (Travelling to Tokio, Part 1)
Despite not being able to understand more than preschool-level written Japanese, I decided to get in on the “importing games from Japan” craze. Of course, I jumped in at the deep end and decided to pick up an Artdink-made city simulator with lots of cultural and regional in-jokes. Also, the city is in space. Did I mention that my PC-9821Ap2 can’t run it?
![thumbnail for "Ms. PC-9801 if you're NS/T" thumbnail for "Ms. PC-9801 if you're NS/T"](/thumbnails/pc9801nst-auction.jpg)
Ms. PC-9801 if you're NS/T
I got ahold of a PC-98 laptop. Unfortunately, it has a lot of battery leakage and won’t power on. Come hang out and smell the vinegar with me for a little while.
![thumbnail for "Mini updates 4 - X68000 battery removal, PC-98 window accelerator, PC-8801MH keyboard arrives" thumbnail for "Mini updates 4 - X68000 battery removal, PC-98 window accelerator, PC-8801MH keyboard arrives"](/thumbnails/pc8801mh-keyboard-auction.jpg)
Mini updates 4 - X68000 battery removal, PC-98 window accelerator, PC-8801MH keyboard arrives
I removed the clock battery from my X68000 ACE, sped up my PC-98’s video, and got a keyboard for my PC-8801MH. Come enjoy this bite-sized collection of what’s going on with my machines.
![thumbnail for "Mini updates 3 - PC98 A-Train III, Atari ST keyboard fix, FM-7 video adapter" thumbnail for "Mini updates 3 - PC98 A-Train III, Atari ST keyboard fix, FM-7 video adapter"](/thumbnails/atrain3-traffic-jam.jpg)
Mini updates 3 - PC98 A-Train III, Atari ST keyboard fix, FM-7 video adapter
Some more mini updates for things that weren’t big enough to merit a full update on their own. In this entry, we’ll finally get A-Train III running on my PC98, fix an Atari ST keyboard, and ship new hardware for a whole new brand of Japanese 8-bit computer.
![thumbnail for "Mini-updates 2 - A501 battery, PC-98 Gotek update, SparcStation 1+ debugging" thumbnail for "Mini-updates 2 - A501 battery, PC-98 Gotek update, SparcStation 1+ debugging"](/thumbnails/2018-11-17-a501-battery.jpg)
Mini-updates 2 - A501 battery, PC-98 Gotek update, SparcStation 1+ debugging
I’ve been up to a bunch of little projects while waiting on parts and time for the big jobs, so here is another mini-update on three of those projects.
![thumbnail for "The PC98 can remember lots of things" thumbnail for "The PC98 can remember lots of things"](/thumbnails/45211823231_b978345367_c.jpg)
The PC98 can remember lots of things
Just as I was beginning to lose hope that the hard drive I had ordered back in August from Yahoo Auctions Japan would ever arrive, my doorbell rang. Inside a beat-up but functional Suruga-ya box sat the hard drive, done with its international journey.
![thumbnail for "Exploring the PC98 software catalogue" thumbnail for "Exploring the PC98 software catalogue"](/thumbnails/44819435882_2ebe85a7d7_c.jpg)
Exploring the PC98 software catalogue
Now that the PC98 can load software off of a USB stick instead of floppies, I decided to explore the software catalogue a bit.
![thumbnail for "PC98 - New floppy board, sound 'fixed,' more testing" thumbnail for "PC98 - New floppy board, sound 'fixed,' more testing"](/thumbnails/44695205082_75a7f649b6_c.jpg)
PC98 - New floppy board, sound 'fixed,' more testing
Now that the PC98 can load a game off a flash drive, there’s a lot more parts of it I can test. Today, I spent a few minutes putting together a new revision of the floppy board and inspecting the computer.
![thumbnail for "Floppy adapter board works for the PC98!" thumbnail for "Floppy adapter board works for the PC98!"](/thumbnails/29763691147_1f247602bf_c.jpg)
Floppy adapter board works for the PC98!
After I designed the first version of my PC88 floppy board, I thought it would be fun to put one together for the PC98 as well. Why do I need an adapter for a computer that already has 3.5” floppy drives? The PC9821AP2 I own has a 26-pin floppy drive connector, like a mid-90s laptop, and most standard IBM PC style floppy drives have 34.
![thumbnail for "PC-9821AP2/U8W - day two" thumbnail for "PC-9821AP2/U8W - day two"](/thumbnails/43740169192_da9760f57f_c.jpg)
PC-9821AP2/U8W - day two
I only had a short amount of time to play with the computer today, but thanks to a very knowledgable friend, I got a known-good DOS 6.2 image with some disk utilities written to a floppy and booted.
![thumbnail for "PC-9821AP2/U8W - day one" thumbnail for "PC-9821AP2/U8W - day one"](/thumbnails/pc98-set-software-dip.png)
PC-9821AP2/U8W - day one
Months ago, I won a PC-8801mkII and a PC-9821AP2/U8W off Yahoo Auctions. They arrived, but life got busy, and so the blog hasn’t been updated in quite some time. What better way to bring it back than a deep-dive into a computer whose language I literally do not speak or understand in even the slightest way?